Clinton pledges thorough effort to find Olympic park bomber

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton pledged Saturday
morning that authorities will "spare no effort" to find and
punish those responsible for the deadly bombing at Centennial
Olympic Park.

"The bombing ... was an evil act of terror," the president
said, eschewing his scheduled weekly radio address to respond
to the explosion. "It was aimed at the innocent people who
were participating in the Olympic Games, an act of cowardice
that stands in sharp contrast to the courage of the Olympic
athletes."

Clinton offered condolences and prayers to victims of the
bombing and their families, and thanked security and medical
personnel for their quick and "brave" response. (238K AIFF or WAV sound)

"There was more concern about the Olympic park than any other
place because it was thought that there had to be some place
where the general public could congregate," he said. "Even
there ... someone spotted that suspicious package last night
and alerted the bomb squad and helped to clear the area." He
said the quick actions of security personnel prevented a
larger loss of life.

Clinton said it was impossible to completely eliminate the
possibility of such an attack, but that the security efforts
for the Atlanta games were thought to be the best coordinated
in recent memory.

"An act of vicious terror like this is clearly directed at
the spirit of our democracy," the president said. " ... We
must not let these attacks stop us from going forward. We
must not let terror win."

Clinton said he supported the death penalty for terrorists
who cause deaths.